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Every PC game reviewed on Free Games Utopia is tagged with one or more topics, keywords or themes. Keywords can be a genre (collectible card game, metroidvania, MOBA, etc.), describe the game perspective (first person, isometric, etc.), highlight a peculiar feature (open source, optional paid subscription, etc.) or simply help to better categorize the game themes (cyberpunk, fantasy, horror, etc.). Existing eywords are frequently updated and, sometimes, new themes are added to the list.

GAME GENRE - 4x games are strategy games that follows the so called 4X rule: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate. In 4X games, players must bring their empire to victory by conquering territories, research technologies, discover new lands (or planetary systems), build units and wage war against enemies. Popular non-free 4x strategy games: Master Of Orion, Civilization, Galactic Civilizations, Stellaris.

GAME GENRE - City building games are strategy games in which the player has to manage the developement of a city by creating infrastructures, building houses and, as the game progresses, micromanage the economy. Popular non-free city building games: the SimCity series, Pharaoh, Caesar, Cities: Skylines.

TECHNICAL FEATURE - If you don't like playing with a mouse or a keyboard, or if you're simply looking for games to be played comfortably on the couch with a controller in both hands, these are the games you are looking for. Some of these free games support a controller completely, while others only grant a partial controller support.

Cyberpunk was born in the 80s thanks to authors like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. What is cyberpunk? Well, take a grim vision of the future, mix it with information technology, drug addicts, artificial augumented punks and there you are. Gibson's masterpiece novel Neuromancer became a videogame, but it wasn't the only cyberpunk game to come out back in the day. Titles like Syndicate, the point and click adventure DreamWeb, the RPG Bloodnet or Rise of the Dragon are some of the many cyberpunk games developed in the past.Cyberpunk in videogames is not dead and games like Shadowrun Returns and Cyberpunk 2077 are proof of that.Popular non-free cyberpunk video games: Syndicate, Shadowrun Returns, Deus Ex.

Dungeon crawling was the main player goal in the first CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) ever to came out on a computer. The first CRPGs were a sort of early roguelikes back then, and by "back then" I'm talking decades ago. Later, thanks to the capabilities of the PCs of the 90s, dungeon crawlers shifted to "half" of a 3D visual (it was 2D simulating 3D, actually) and became much more appealing to a much broader audience. That was when developers designed some of the greatest RPGs ever for PC:

Dungeon Master - an instant classic, the one that started the 3D dungeon crawling mania

Eye of the Beholder - the series that better represented the dungeon crawlers in the 90s

Wizardry - something more than a mere dungeon crawler; a long time running series that lasted more than many other RPG franchises

Might and Magic - like Wizardry, Might and Magic was something more open world-like, but managed to keep that dungeon crawling feeling

These games were perhaps the most popular of their time; many pages were written about them on every video game magazine of the 90s.When Wolfenstein 3D (and Doom) shocked the gaming world with its real-time 3D environment, almost every CRPG developer started to look in a new first-person direction: no more turn-based movent, enter real-time (see Ultima Underworld). That meant a lot of changes and 3D/2D dungeon crawlers started to quickly lose their appeal.

Some games are structured in a way that it's easy to create new content. Once in a while, the developers include some kind of free editor in their game. Depending on the game, the player can use the editor to create new levels for platform games, maps for real-time strategy games, puzzles for... well... puzzle games, and so on.

GAME SETTING - Fantasy is one of the most used (and abused) themes in the history of video games, wether they are free-to-play or not. Roguelikes, MMORPGs, platformers, adventures and even card games often take place in a fantasy world with dwarves, elves, dragons, goblins and other vicious creatures, swords and sorcery.

Some video games feature a female character as the protagonist: explorers, princesses and more. It's not a common practice, but there are a few popular games that feature a female main character, notably the Tomb Raider series. Freeware games seems be more inclined to female characters in the main role: Iji, Hyper Princess Pitch, Knytt are a few examples.

GAME GENRE - Do you remember those all-action video games in which you beat the hell out of your friends in a one on one on-screen brawl? Does the titles Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters ring a bell? Those were some of the most popular fighting games of the past. Here are some less popular, but free, more recent fighting games.Popular non-free fighing games: Tekken, Street Fighter 2; Mortal Kombat, The King of fighters.

GAME GENRE - First-person shooters (FPS) are firse-person perspective shooter video games in which the player has to shoot hordes of enemies in order to progress in the game, one level after another. Multiplayer FPS are often arena-style kill-em-all games with no levels and no story.Popular non-free first-person shooters: Doom, Half-life, Quake, Halo.

Browser games come in different flavors and may use different technologies to run. Macromedia Flash is an animation editor used a few years ago in web developement. As different technologies arise every year, Flash is being used less and less. The one area where Flash is still somewhat popular is game design for browsers. Flash is a plug-in, so you may want to download and install it here.

GAME GENRE - Interactive Fiction (IF) is one of the earliest video game genres. Interactive Fiction games are story driven adventures in which the player issues text commands to move around, pick up objects and progress through the story. A few Interactive Fiction games contain some graphics, but the interface remains a text-based experience.

GAME GENRE - JRPG (or console RPG) stands for Japanese Role-Playing Game. As the name suggests, JRPG are role-playing games with a distinctive japanese style. JRPG distinguish themselves from western RPGs mainly by the "anime" graphics and peculiar turn-based combat. Popular non-free JRPGs: the Final Fantasy series, the Legend of Zelda series, Chronotrigger.

GAME GENRE - Construction and management simulation and strategy games focus on developing and managing an empire (or something equivalent) by paying attention to the economy and constantly expanding. Management games often involve researching new technologies and competing against other players (or the computer).

GAME GENRE - Metroidvania games are platform/action/adventure games with gameplay elements borrowed from two popular series: Metroid and Castlevania. Such elements are: a huge map to explore freely, areas of the map accessible only after acquiring certain items or skills, 2D graphics.Popular metroidvania non-free games: Castlevania, Metroid, Super Metroid.

In open world video games the player can move freely in the world, almost without restrictions. Opposed to linear gameplay, in an open world game you can actually approach each situation in many different ways. Open world gameplay is usually related to RPG games such as Skyrim or the Ultima series, but can be applied to shooters or platform games (expecially metroidvania).

GAME GENRE - Point and click adventure games were very popular during the golden age of PC gaming. Titles such as Monkey Island or King's Quest made the history of the adventure genre. In recent times, indie developers revitalized the point and click scene. The love for this genre is so strong that some fans developed point and click adventures and made them available for free.Popular point and click adventure games: Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, the LucasArts Indiana Jones series, The Longest Journey.

The freeware scene is full of developers who take inspiration from old titles. Sometimes, the best way to pay homage to old video games is to create e remake with updated graphics, sound and sometimes smoother gameplay. Video game remakes are a wonderful way to show that kind of appreciation and often prelude to a career in the video gaming industry.

The retro gaming phenomenon started to gain popularity a while ago and influenced every kind of developing company, from big ones to indies. Retro games show a distinct vintage flavor in various forms: pixellated graphics, old style gameplay, etc. A few retro games are directly based on real video games published years ago.

GAME GENRE - Similar to rogue-likes, but with less constraints. Rogue-lites gameplay takes some ideas from rogue-likes but tend to be less unforgiving: mitigated permadeath, not an ascii dungeon crawler, different genre, etc.

GAME GENRE - Roguelike games are a subgenre of RPGs (usually dungeon crawlers) in which the player explores procedurally generated levels. Roguelikes gameplay involves permanent death and turn-based movement and combat. Two of the most popular and free roguelikes are Angband and Nethack.

GAME GENRE - Run an gun games are video games in which you control a gun wielding character and must shoot enemies and jump around to reach the end of the level. Traditionally, run and gun games are side scrolling platformers (such as Bio Menace) or top down military shooters (such as Alien Swarm), but there are a few exceptions.

GAME SETTING - Exploration in deep space, mech battles, cyberpunk lovestories, UFO invasions. Every theme even remotely tied to science fiction has been implemented in a video game one way or another. Free games make no exception; from Star Trek to Star Wars, developers still draw much inspiration from sci-fi.

GAME GENRE - Shoot'em ups are shooter action games, usually seen from a top-down perspective, in which the player has to shoot its way to reach the end of each level. In the vast majority of shoot'em ups the player controls a spaceship, a plane, or some sort of vehicle equipped with weapons.

Space exploration games let you explore the universe, planet by planet, star after star. They are usually open-ended and involve other activities such as space combat, commerce, asteroid mining. One of the first space exploration games was Elite, but the genre didn't stop there and spawned many other games worth a look.

GAME GENRE - Puzzle games are almost excusively free games or/and games for smartphones. It's difficult to find a simple puzzle game sold at a high price. Tile matching is perhaps the most popular subgenre of puzzle games. Gameplay involves... well... matching tiles of some kind. The most popular tile-matching game is by far Tetris.

GAME GENRE - Take a fixed screen, mix with hordes of enemies that follow precise paths, give the player some structures to defend their territory and you have the basic recipe for a strategy tower defense game.Popular non-free tower defense games: Gemcraft, Defense Grid, Dungeon Defenders.

GAME GENRE - Trading card games (or collectible card games: CCG) gameplay is based on playing cards (obviously!) and involves some sort of collecting activity. In order to progress in the game, the player is tasked in winning turn-based matches to acquire new cards. Cards are often organized in different types and different rarities. Some CCGs allow the player to exchange real money with some sort of currency used to buy booster packs or single cards.

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